No red card plan, says Mourinho

Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho has dismissed suggestions Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos were deliberately sent off against Ajax on Tuesday.

With Real 4-0 up at the Amsterdam Arena and top spot in Champions League Group G secured, Alonso and Ramos both committed second bookable offences and received their marching orders.

The pair will be suspended for the final group match against Auxerre on December 8 – now a meaningless game for Real – but both will have a clean disciplinary slate when they return to action in the knock-out stages.

While the timing and nature of the dismissals appeared convenient, Real boss Mourinho has denied the players actively sought to be penalised.

“I spoke with many players throughout the game, not only with Ramos and Alonso,” Mourinho said.

“Stories sell, but the important thing is the 4-0 win and the fantastic game we had. Let’s talk about that and not other things.”

“The sendings-off came after an easy game where the referee has shown some strange yellows. They are cards that I don’t like.”

“It was an easy game to control. Ajax made a lot of fouls and in the first from Ramos he was shown a yellow card.”

“The red cards we picked up don’t matter hugely as we have already qualified ahead of the next game against Auxerre.”

“If Ramos and Alonso can’t play against Auxerre then there will be others, but we are not going to gift the game to the French. We want to win them all.”

Real defender Sergio Ramos – the second of the two players to make an early exit – also denied intentionally being sent off.

“We haven’t gone looking for the cards,” Ramos told AS.

“Seeing what the scoreline was, the referee could have spared them (the cards). But he sent me off and that’s it.”

Match footage showed reserve goalkeeper Jersey Dudek relaying a message to captain Iker Casillas, who then spoke directly to a visibly surprised Sergio Ramos.

Despite the incriminating pictures, Casillas maintains the conversations were innocent.

“Dudek was asking me about my stomach problems,” Casillas said.

“I told Ramos to keep an eye on one of their strikers, who was a constant threat inside the area.”